Detective Testifies He Warned Moore About Lying; She Propositioned Him

Friday

Nov 30, 2012 at 12:13 PM

TAMPA | A detective investigating the disappearance of Lakeland lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare testified Friday that he warned Dorice "DeeDee" Moore about lying to him, and she sexually propositioned him.

By JASON GEARYTHE LEDGER

TAMPA | A detective investigating the disappearance of Lakeland lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare testified Friday that he warned Dorice "DeeDee" Moore about lying to him, and she sexually propositioned him.

David Clark, a Polk County Sheriff's Office deputy, told jurors that he warned Moore about lying to him during the investigation and that he was going to get angry.

Clark said Moore told him that he wasn't going to get angry, but he was going to have sex with her. He said Moore indicated that she wanted to pursue a relationship with him.

"She said she was very attracted to me," Clark said.

Clark testified that he rebuffed Moore's advances and told her that he wouldn't discuss anything like that with her.

Clark said Moore on another occasion offered to get a hotel room and perform sex acts. He said he again rejected her sexual advances.

Moore is charged with first-degree murder in Shakespeare's death. If convicted as charged, she faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Shakespeare won a $17 million lump-sum lottery payment in 2006, and had about $14 million left after taxes. By late 2008, he had given away or loaned the majority of his winnings.

He was down to his last $1.5 million, owned a mansion worth more than $1 million, and held IOUs from friends and acquaintances. He was 43 when last seen alive in April 2009.

Prosecutors say Moore got close to Shakespeare by saying she wanted to write a book about his life, became his trusted financial adviser, swindled Shakespeare of his dwindling lottery fortune and killed him.

Clark was among the detectives assigned to uncover what happened to Shakespeare after he was reported missing in November 2009.

The trail would eventually lead to a thick concrete slab behind a Plant City home purchased by Moore. Under about six feet of dirt, investigators found Shakespeare's decaying body Jan. 28, 2010. He had been shot twice in the chest.

Jurors heard recorded conversations of Moore talking to Clark and Detective David Wallace of PCSO before Shakespeare's body was discovered.

Moore repeatedly told the detectives that Shakespeare wanted to escape those trying to get his money, including the mother of one of Shakespeare's sons in a pending child support case.

"He wants to be missing," she said.

Moore suggested authorities "back off" and give Shakespeare some room, and he would surface.

She said she bought Shakespeare's assets at "a very good discount," and he took off because he wanted to be left alone.

"I thought I was doing him a favor," she said.

Investigators could not find financial documentation that Moore paid Shakespeare. She told detectives that she paid Shakespeare in cash.

She said Shakespeare was in hiding and pretending to have AIDS to avoid having to pay child support.

"I'm telling you he is not dead," she said.

Moore's lawyers told jurors during this week's opening statements that Moore was trying to help protect Shakespeare's assets from a pending child support case, and he was killed by drug dealers who haven't been caught.

Under cross-examination, Moore's lawyer, Byron Hileman, pressed Clark about why Moore was the focus of the investigation. He asked why detectives didn't extensively question other potential suspects, including people who owed money to Shakespeare.

Clark said Moore had control of Shakespeare's assets, and other people questioned didn't give detectives "the runaround."

Assistant State Attorney Jay Pruner told jurors in this week's opening statements that Moore took "very calculated, deliberate steps" to make it look like Shakespeare was alive.

A birthday card with $100 and a cross was sent to Shakespeare's mother supposedly by Shakespeare, reports state.

Investigative reports state Moore asked Shakespeare's friend, Greg Smith, to place a call to Shakespeare's mother a few days after Christmas and Smith pretended to be Shakespeare.

Detectives used phone records and traced the call to Smith, who agreed to secretly record his conversations with Moore, reports state.

Smith began testifying late Friday afternoon in Moore's trial. He is a crucial witness and is expected to continue testifying Monday.

Smith described modifying a Red Bull energy drink can to contain the recording device.

Smith told jurors that detectives didn't threaten to arrest him, and he agreed to help with the investigation because of his friendship with Shakespeare.

"I felt I owed it back to help Abraham," Smith said.

Smith said he had known Shakespeare for about 15 years, and borrowed about $63,000 from Shakespeare to pay a lien on his mother's property after her death.

Smith said he made regular payments on the loan, and he met Moore when she began collecting his payments.

He recalled one instance in which Moore offered him $300 to use a pay phone to call a detective and he was to claim he saw Shakespeare in a Miami strip club. He said Moore instructed him to wipe his fingerprints off the pay phone once he was done.

Detectives continued to build a case against Moore with Smith's cooperation.

Investigative reports state Moore offered an undercover officer $50,000 to take the blame for Shakespeare's death, handed over a .38-caliber revolver to Smith that detectives believe to be the murder weapon, and revealed the location of Shakespeare's body.

After Shakespeare's body was found, Moore again spoke to detectives in lengthy interviews, reports state.

She gave different accounts of how Shakespeare was killed, including by drug dealers, reports state.

[ Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or 863-802-7536. ]